“Judy” – The Pipettes
(Words/music: The Pipettes, available on We Are the Pipettes, Memphis Industries 2006)
My basic, reductivist understanding of post-modernism boils down to the phrase “make it new,” so in that sense I saw the group of Pipettes singles from a few years ago as a sort of “post-modern ‘60s girl group.” I’ve grown to detest these sorts of labels usually because they’re usually a strand of buzz words rarely followed with an explanation. Still, this one stuck with me, largely because it fits what I liked about these songs – it took elements from one style and “made it new” by putting their personal spin on it.
Calling a song like “Judy” derivative of the Phil Spector produced girl groups in the 1960s sells it short. Yes, it has the same sort of female harmonies and strings that epitomized Spector’s production, but this isn’t a mere imitation. It seems to look equally towards Spector’s sound as it looks at recent trends in indie pop of sounding melodic with a bit of a point to it. At points, “Judy” sounds like it could be a Belle and Sebastian outtake. Even if the women in the group fashion themselves (or were fashioned by someone else) as a throwback to the style of that era, their attitudes are more in line with the current decade. While “Judy” doesn’t cover the same sort of sexual liberation that some of the other singles carried, it’s not exactly a paeon to love like “My Boyfriend’s Back.” Instead, it’s an ode to being friends with the edgy girl from school, coming around to her prickly demeanor and getting into trouble with her in all hours of the night. It’s this undercurrent of mischief and danger that makes their in-song personalities interesting – this isn’t the same “girl power” marketed so aggressively in the 1990s, but it’s also not the same vision of feminimity in the pop music of the 1960s. Instead, it’s a reminder that girls can have fun too.
More on The Pipettes: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm
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